Hi! I’m traveling from Chicago to Tokyo and I have a 15 hour layover in Shanghai. I land in PVG at 6:25 PM and my connecting flight is at 9:40 AM from SHA. I’ve looked into shuttle bus, maglev and taxi, but the problem is that my hotel (offered by China Eastern Airlines) is in Pudong near PVG. I’m traveling with my mother and we will definitely need to rest for a bit. It would’ve been much more convenient if the hotel was near SHA Hongqiao but I contacted the airlines and they will not change. Any suggestions on how to reach my connecting flight on a timely basis witthout having to splurge too much money on a taxi? Do shuttle bus/train services operate during early morning hours? My flight is at 9:40 AM so I am most worried about reaching on time. Any advice would be appreciated!

Which hotel did they book for you? If it's not at the airport itself, spending 250 on a taxi might be worth it.

Okay. Getting from there back to the airport in the morning to catch the bus would be annoying, but is doable. The other problem with the #1 bus is that I believe it drops off at the train station, rather than T2. This is only a 400 meter walk, but I certainly would pay 250 for my own mom to avoid it.

The bus stops at both the train station and the airport.

Good to know. Thanks. As much as I like buses, I'd still be inclined to pay an extra 200 for a taxi if I was the OP.

In this situation I wouldn't classify 200 RMB (about $30) as a "splurge". Take the taxi.

I would take taxi in this case. After 5 a.m the taxi is not extremely expensive. Taking the bus means you have to spend extra time to get back to Pudong Airport. Also the morning peck hour traffic is another thing you may want to concern.

Subway may be another choice. You can take No.2 subway from Pudong Airport all the way to Hongqiao Airport which takes aout one and half to two hours.

Apart from being a miserable experience, the subway presents the same problem as the bus; the OP would need to go back to the airport to catch it.